A metal casket is formed as a deep, hollow metal shell which is closed by a cap. Much effort is expended to provide that the casket is leak tight so that water cannot leak into the casket when the casket is buried underground. It is also important that liquids of body decomposition not leak out of the casket when the casket is disposed in a mausoleum. Similarly, it is desirable that caskets not evidence bodily dissolution during funeral services, transport, etc. Special gaskets have been designed for the engagement of the cap with the shell to prevent leaking around the perimeter of the casket. One of the final steps in the manufacturing process of the casket is to pressure test the casket with the lid closed upon its shell to determine whether the casket, before it is shut, is indeed leak tight. Alternatively the shell can be filled with water to test its integrity.
The casket hardware represents a potential site for leakage. Conventionally, holes are drilled or stamped through the wall of the casket shell. Bolts pass through those holes to mount the hardware to the shell, the hardware providing the handles by which the casket is carried. Washers must be mounted on the bolts to provide a seal around the holes.
The hardware is the point of greatest stress when the casket is handled. There is always the potential for the rupture of the leak-tight seal around each bolt that attaches the hardware to the shell. Eventually, the corrosive effects of body acids, soil conditions etc. will deteriorate the bolt to the point that the seal around the bolt hole is compromised. Wherever a hole is formed in a casket, the potential for a leak exists.
It is therefore one objective of the present invention to provide non-invasive hardware for a casket, that is, hardware that can be mounted on the casket without the necessity of drilling a hole in the casket wall.
Wood caskets similarly have externally mounted metal hardware. When wood caskets having standard metal hardware are cremated, the metal hardware is a source of problems. The external hardware on caskets are often die cast parts which include zinc as a major component. During cremation, the zinc in the metal hardware tends to damage and deteriorate the fire brick of the crematory. Furthermore, during the cremation process the melting and decomposition of the zinc can yield undesirable gases. As a result, the cremation industry is making attempts to eliminate the production of these gases during the cremation process.
The use of metal hardware on caskets presents other problems during cremation. During the cremation of caskets having metal hardware, incidental human remains such as bone fragments tend to sear and attach to the molten metal presenting disposal problems and thereby further complicate the cremation process. Specifically, external metal casket hardware which is stamped steel does not melt during the cremation process but does sear to bone fragments. Due to its mass the stamped steel hardware is a nuisance to remove from the remains when it is still hot in the cremation process.
Additionally, the ornamental and functional metal hardware used on a wood casket can be expensive to manufacture and incorporate into the casket.
Complicating matters is the requirement that after the casket lid has been closed and locked, for example, subsequent to the memorial service, the casket may not be unlocked and the lid opened to remove the external casket hardware by removing the fasteners which can only be accessed from the interior of the casket. The current practice at many crematories is to use a pry bar or saber saw to remove the hardware externally.
It is therefore another objective of the present invention to provide externally removable casket hardware which can be completely removed subsequent to the memorial services and prior to the cremation process without opening the casket thereby eliminating introduction of metal hardware into the crematory.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide externally removable casket hardware which can be removed prior to cremation and then reused by reattachment of the hardware on other caskets.
Still another objective of the present invention has been to provide such non-invasive externally removable casket hardware without sacrificing the strength and integrity of the hardware when mounted to the casket.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide casket hardware conducive to ready-to-assemble ("RTA") manufacturing techniques such that the hardware can be assembled onto the casket without disturbing any pre-installed interior components such as linings and the like.